Heavenly Homemakers

Encouraging women in homemaking, healthy eating and parenting

The Best Apple Recipes

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Apples, apples everywhere! Here are the best apple recipes around!

The Best Apple Recipes

Take a peek at what you’ll be able to make with these recipes:

ApplesauceYum

First let’s talk about making Applesauce.

Through the years, I’ve learned to make the process easier and easier. This is a good thing because I usually make a lot of applesauce every year!

I make the applesauce using this method, then just dump the cooked apples into my Blendtec and blended until smooth. It actually makes the applesauce creamy, and it takes so little time and very little effort on my part. (By the way, you can read about my cute little applesauce cups here.)

Apple Treat Recipes

Now let’s look at some of the other great ways to use apples this fall! Here’s our Favorite Apple Recipes list at a quick glance. But I’ll describe some of them in detail below.

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Applesauce Bread

This one is a family favorite, but also a wonderful treat to make and share with others!

Crock Pot Apple Cider

You’ll love how easy this is and how great it makes your house smell!


Stick with our basic Apple Crisp recipe, or take it a notch above with Salted Caramel Apple Crisp.


Some of the college kids I’ve fed Cream Cheese Fruit Dip to have declared it to be the best thing they’ve ever eaten. Who am I to argue? We go through a lot of apples when I make this dip!

These Apple Nachos are kind of an awesome snack. kind of.

What a fun time of year fall is, with all the apples and spices and everything nice. What are your favorite ways to enjoy apples?

 

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Easy Whole Grain Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

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Sure, banana bread is delicious. But why not take it a notch above and add some chocolate chips? I’m guessing that no one would argue if you made Chocolate Chip Banana Bread…

Even if you made it with whole grains, who’s gonna know? No one. You know why? Because it still tastes delicious. It’s still moist. And there are chocolate chips in it. It’s an amazing treat!

How many times have I said that I wished more food could be made from “spoiled” food. What I mean is – after bananas turn black, we can use them to make fantastic treats like this Chocolate Chip Banana Bread. Why can’t everything be made into something wonderful after it’s past its prime?

Everything should be like a banana.

By the way, this recipe is made millions of times better simply by adding sour cream. Mmm, always add sour cream. :)

Easy Whole Grain Chocolate Chip Banana BreadYum

Easy Whole Grain Chocolate Chip Banana Bread
 
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Serves: 1 loaf
Ingredients
  • 1½ cups whole wheat flour (I use freshly ground soft white wheat)
  • ½ cup sugar, brown sugar, or sucanat
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • ¼ teaspoon sea salt
  • 1 cup mashed over-ripe bananas (about 2-3 bananas)
  • ½ cup sour cream or plain yogurt
  • ⅓ cup melted coconut oil or butter
  • 2 eggs
  • ⅓ cup chocolate chips
Instructions
  1. In a large mixing bowl stir together flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.
  2. Add mashed bananas, oil, sour cream and eggs.
  3. Stir until ingredients are well combined.
  4. Fold in chocolate chips.1
  5. Pour mixture into a buttered bread pan.
  6. Bake in a 350 degree oven for one hour or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

 

Lately, Brayden and I have been making lots of loaves of this Chocolate Chip Banana Bread to share with friends. He’s becoming quite the chef and loves delivering treats to friends.

It sure is fun to share pictures of our son. Here are more photos of his big adoption day in case you missed it. :)

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How to Make Easy Fruit Cobbler

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Hopefully, we’ve all been taking advantage of summer and fall to pick and preserve all the fresh fruit we can get our hands on. Now let’s learn about how to make Easy Fruit Cobbler!

Almost 12 years into sharing recipes here with you, I am shocked that I have yet to post our favorite fruit cobbler recipe! This is, hands down, Matt’s favorite dessert. And who am I kidding? Sometimes we make it and eat it for breakfast. It’s fruit and bread, am I right?

What fruits work best for Easy Fruit CobblerYum

In our experience, with the exception of melons and citrus, just about any fruits will work. Our favorites are:

  • Peach (our favorite, favorite!)
  • Strawberry
  • Raspberry
  • Blueberry
  • Boysenberry (Matt’s favorite since he grew up in California – but we don’t have access to these berries in Nebraska!)
  • Blackberry
  • Apple
  • Pear
  • Cherry

You can buy fresh or frozen fruit at the store or farmer’s market to use in these cobblers. Our favorite and most economical option is to use whatever fruit we’ve been blessed to pick and preserve. We grab peaches or berries that we’ve frozen during the summer and quickly make an Easy Fruit Cobbler to enjoy!

Use as much or as little sugar as you prefer. Through the years, I’ve cut the sugar content down in this recipe (so we can eat it for breakfast, you know?). And of course, I use freshly ground wheat flour. So our cobblers are made with whole grains, healthy fats, and amazing fruit!

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 —- > Want to know more about grinding fresh flour and using whole grains? Read these posts! <—–

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I love that using whole grains in dessert and treat recipes takes them up a notch on the healthy scale! Yes, these are still sweet treats to be eaten in moderation. But when we cut down the sugar content, use whole grains, and use all wholesome, real food ingredients – we’ve got ourselves a dessert that is actually nourishing!

Easy Fruit Cobbler

How to Make Easy Fruit Cobbler
 
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Serves: 4-6
Ingredients
  • TOPPING:
  • 1 cup whole grain flour (I use freshly ground soft white wheat)
  • 2 Tablespoons brown sugar or sucanat
  • ½ teaspoon baking powder
  • ¼ cup melted butter
  • 1 egg
  • 3 Tablespoons milk
  • FRUIT:
  • 6 cups fresh or frozen fruit, washed and sliced if needed
  • ¼-1/2 cup brown sugar or sucanat, depending on your taste
Instructions
  1. In a medium saucepan, cook fruit and sugar until soft and syrupy.
  2. Pour fruit mixture into a 9x9 inch baking dish.
  3. Mix together topping ingredients, beginning with dry ingredients first.
  4. Add melted butter, egg, and milk until well combined.
  5. Spoon mounds of topping over the fruit filling in the baking dish.
  6. Bake in a 400 degree oven for 20-25 minutes or until cobbler is bubbly and topping is golden brown.
  7. Serve as-is, or topped with ice cream or milk

If you prefer a crunchy topping instead of a cake topping, try this awesome Fruit Crisp Recipe instead!

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Easy Cheesecake Topped Treat Recipes

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After you read this list of Easy Cheesecake Topped Treat Recipes, you will most definitely need to stock up on cream cheese. Most of us would agree: cream cheese makes everything better. And usually, it is on sale this time of year.

Why make treats topped with cheesecake? Do I even need to explain this?

You see, the treats in and of themselves are wonderful. Muffins, cookie bars, you can’t go wrong. But then if you whip up a cheesecake mixture and bake it on top of the already wonderful treat? Well, this is where we all sing and dance and shout for joy. Cheesecake-topped muffins! Cheesecake-topped cookie bars! SERVED FOR BREAKFAST!!!! With a cup of coffee or a glass of milk. This is the most delicious.

So let’s get started, shall we?

Easy Cheesecake Topped Treat Recipes

Yum

We just shared the latest and possibly the best, our Whole Grain Chocolate Chip Cheesecake Bars. These are a favorite because of the chocolate chips sprinkled over the cheesecake.

 

That recipe came about by tweaking our Whole Grain Raspberry Cheesecake Bars recipe. We simply switched the raspberry jam for chocolate chips. I personally like the raspberry variety better. AND, you can switch out the raspberry jam with any flavor you like!

Say yes to these Easy Pumpkin Cheesecake Bars and you’ll be happy you did. They are perfect for an autumn treat!

Of course, we tweaked the bar recipe and turned it into a pie. And then we added chocolate chips. It’s the same recipe, just “fancier” so we highly recommend this Pumpkin Cheesecake Pie.

Now it’s time to talk about muffins. All of these are basic, wholesome muffin recipes with the same cheesecake topping baked on to add amazingness!

Easy Blueberry Cheesecake Muffins


Easy Chocolate Cheesecake Muffins

Easy Banana Cheesecake Muffins

Easy Pumpkin Cheesecake Muffins

Easy Chocolate Chip Cheesecake Muffins

Easy Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cheesecake Muffins

See? I told you that you were going to want to stock up on cream cheese after reading this post. Cheesecake baked on top of treats makes them incredible!

Here’s a quick bullet list of all the Cheesecake Topped Recipes:

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Simple Hearty Bean Casserole (How to cheat and make this FAST!)

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This Simple Hearty Bean Casserole is a family favorite, and if you follow these simple make-ahead tricks, you can have it on the table super quickly!

First, let’s talk about the beauty of prepping Homemade Bacon Bits ahead of time. And while we’re at it, let’s be reminded about cooking several pounds of hamburger meat ahead of time.

If you do these two things, you will have so many quick meal options at your fingertips!!

For this Simple Hearty Bean Casserole, I’ve found that if I have the bacon bits and the hamburger meat already prepped all I have to do is stir them into a couple cans of beans and we have a meal. This is so easy and good!

Yes, you can soak and make your beans from scratch. This is a great money saver! During this season in my life, I’ve found that it is incredibly helpful to have a case of Baked Beans on hand for easy meal prep. Maybe someday I’ll get back to soaking and cooking beans. ;)

This is my favorite brand of Baked Beans.

This recipe is perfect for a family who loves their protein. Beans, bacon, and hamburger all in one bowl? Yah. Add a side salad and some fresh fruit and the meal is complete!

How to make Simple Hearty Bean Casserole:

I just want you to know how easy this is, especially if you have your meat prepped ahead.

  1. Open two cans of beans and put them into a large cooking pot.
  2. Dump in some cooked bacon bits.
  3. Dump in some cooked hamburger meat.
  4. Squeeze in some ketchup.
  5. Shake in some dry minced onion.
  6. Heat until bubbly (5 minutes).
  7. Serve and eat!

Do you see? Do you see how easy this is and how wonderful it can be to have these foods prepped or purchased and waiting to make a great meal for your family?

Simple Hearty Bean CasseroleYum

And now, we’ll pretend that this is an actual recipe.

Simple Hearty Bean Casserole (How to cheat and make this FAST!)
 
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Author:
Serves: 4-6
Ingredients
  • 1 pound hamburger meat
  • ½ pound bacon
  • 2 Tablespoons dry minced onion
  • 3 Tablespoons ketchup
  • 2 15-ounce cans of Baked Beans
Instructions
  1. Cook hamburger meat, bacon, and onion together in a large pot.
  2. Drain excess grease if necessary.
  3. Stir beans and ketchup into cooked meat.
  4. Heat until bubbly.
  5. Serve and eat!

Want More Simple Recipes?

We’ve got a huge list, and it keeps growing!

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Simple Cheeseburger Mac in the Instant Pot

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Once upon a time, I had a genius idea to add seasoned hamburger meat to our Simple 10-Minute Instant Pot Mac and Cheese. This magically and beautifully turned into Simple Cheeseburger Mac in the Instant Pot. And once again, dinner is saved!

Mind you, this recipe is made even easier if I have “worked” ahead and have hamburger meat already pre-cooked and in the fridge ready to pull out as needed. And by “worked” I mean that I open several packs of hamburger meat (usually frozen) and plop it into my Instant Pot where it cooks all by itself for a few minutes, providing our family with several meals worth of pre-cooked meat to use easily in recipes as needed.

If you get an Instant Pot for no other reason, get it so that it will cook your hamburger meat for you. I usually cook 7-pounds at once, and it is such a time and energy saver!

Simple Cheeseburger Mac in the Instant PotYum

5.0 from 1 reviews
Simple Cheeseburger Mac in the Instant Pot
 
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Author:
Serves: 4-6
Ingredients
  • 1 pound cooked hamburger meat
  • ½ teaspoon garlic powder
  • ½ teaspoon chili powder
  • 16-ounces whole grain pasta (any shape)
  • 4 cups water
  • 4 Tablespoons butter
  • 2 teaspoons sea salt
  • 1 cup heavy whipping cream
  • 3 cups shredded cheese (we love Colby jack)
Instructions
  1. Cook hamburger meat and season with garlic powder and chili powder.
  2. Stir meat, uncooked pasta, water, butter, and salt in your instant pot.
  3. Seal and cook on manual, high pressure for 4 minutes.
  4. Quick release the pressure.
  5. Open the pot and stir in the cream and cheese until melted and creamy.

This recipe is incredibly easy to make, and it is a huge hit with the family! Any time I can make pasta without actually boiling pasta is a win in my book. Fewer dirty dishes, less time in the kitchen, and a delicious meal too!

Want More Simple Recipes?

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How to Make Delicious Iced Coffee that is ACTUALLY Healthy

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It really is possible to make delicious Iced Coffee that is ACTUALLY healthy! And not that it matters, but is there anything prettier?

Yum

Confession: I didn’t take this photo. I grabbed it from an online photo subscription source that I love to utilize. Occasionally using their photos has enabled me to continue writing here since I don’t have the work time I used to have now that we have little ones in the house again! Without a doubt, their photos are better than mine anyway!

I tell you that for one big reason. When I make iced coffee, I use coffee ice cubes instead of water ice cubes. No need to water down our delicious coffee, right? And making coffee ice cubes is fun and easy!

There, now you know. Shall we talk about healthy iced coffee now?

How to make Iced Coffee that is Actually Healthy

1. I begin with a Dollar Coffee Club coffee packet. 

They have two coffee options, but I prefer the taste (actually, I love the taste!) of their Burn and Control coffee. Here’s a quick summary of why their coffee is actually healthy!

Dollar Coffee Club coffee (formerly known as Javita) is filled with fabulous God-given herbs and mushrooms that our bodies need for great health. We could grow these herbs ourselves and utilize them every day to help cleanse our systems, give us energy, regulate our blood sugar, and so much more. Or we can take advantage of the fact that the hard work has been done and the wonderful herbs are already prepared for us in these delicious drink packets!

Typically, I make my coffee packet into a regular hot coffee. But to make it into an iced coffee, I simply heat a little water and dissolve the packet in the hot water (about 3 Tablespoons). Then, I add cold water, my coffee ice cubes, and voila! I have healthy iced coffee!

2. Next, I add 1/2 and 1/2 or heavy cream.

Lest you fear that the cream makes the coffee unhealthy, I will remind you that it is a real, natural fat that our bodies recognize and can utilize for nourishment. Hooray for cream! This makes it sweet enough as for my taste and preference, therefore I declare that coffee with cream is absolute perfection! My family disagrees and prefers something sweet with their cream. And so…

3. They add this NuNaturals Chocolate Syrup.

It is sweetened with stevia, but you can’t even tell! My family is a bit picky over most stevia-sweetened treats. But this chocolate syrup wins them over and is perfect to add to coffee and cream for a fabulously sweet (but not sugary!) coffee treat!

So, coffee filled with wonderful, healing herbs, plus cream, with or without stevia sweetened chocolate. THAT is how you can make an iced coffee that is actually healthy!

Are you an iced coffee lover?

—-> Read more about Dollar Coffee Club coffee and other products here The entire business structure has been revamped, making it so much better for everyone! AND the prices had gone up, but they just went back down, oh yeah!<—-

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Homemade Crunchy Granola Bars

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I’m sure you’re wondering: Why did Laura decide to make Homemade Crunchy Granola Bars?

Oh, you weren’t wondering? You’re just so used to me sharing recipes that you never question what inspired the recipe? And really, you probably don’t even care too much as you really just want to take a peek at the recipe to see if it looks easy and good enough to try.

It get you. I’m a “scroll to the bottom of the post and just read the recipe” kind of a gal too. But still, I wanted to tell you the question I asked myself before I looked up ideas for how to create Homemade Crunchy Granola Bars. The question was this:

What is a better use of my time – going to the store or making these at home?

It wasn’t really about money, even though making these homemade is going to save a buck or two. It wasn’t about the ingredients, even though making these homemade is going to ensure we only eat the best of the best. What was it about then?

See, now that we have little ones in the house again (currently a 5-year-old and an 8-month-old), along with our teens and college guys home for the summer, I am questioning my best use of my time for EVERYTHING. Not one minute can be wasted, you know?

We’ve been on a bit of a Nature Valley Granola Bar kick, because God is bigger than store-bought granola bars when you have a lot of people to love on. But then we ran out of the bars, and quite a few other staple snacks too. I mean, I did add them to the grocery list, but on that particular day and week, I was trying to avoid going to the store for as many days as possible.

We had fresh produce from our garden and milk from the farm. So all other meals and snacks could be made from what we had so that I wouldn’t have to mess with lugging babies to the store. Can anyone else relate to this?

So while Boy Babe was napping, Bonus Boy and I mixed these up after looking up a few ideas online. He had fun, I had fun, and you can bet that this recipe is super simple because if I’m too lazy to go to the store, I’m certainly not willing to make a difficult recipe, right?

We are very pleased with how these turned out! They include only simple, real food ingredients. They are great for breakfast or for a snack. And they pack well in the diaper bag to, you know, take to the store with us should we ever decide to go again. :)

Homemade Crunchy Granola BarsYum

5.0 from 1 reviews
Homemade Crunchy Granola Bars
 
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Author:
Serves: 15
Ingredients
  • 3¼ cups rolled oats
  • ⅔ cups flour (I use freshly ground soft white wheat)
  • 3 tablespoons brown sugar or sucanat
  • ½ teaspoon baking soda
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • ⅔ cup honey
  • ⅓ cup melted coconut oil
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
  1. In a large bowl, mix oats, flour, brown sugar, baking soda, and salt.
  2. Add honey, coconut oil, and vanilla, stirring until well combined.
  3. Press mixture down into a parchment paper-lined 9x13 pan.
  4. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown.
  5. Remove pan from oven, and press the bars down with another piece of parchment paper so that they stay nice and tight while cooling.
  6. After 15 minutes, remove the bars from the pan to cool for a few more minutes.
  7. Cut them into 12 bars or break into snack-sized bites.
  8. Allow approximately 2 hours for the bars to become crunchy.

In your current season of life, what is your preference? Buy most food store-bought or make do with what you have at home so you don’t have to mess with a grocery store run?

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Homemade Chocolate Pudding Recipe

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Apparently, it is the week for pudding! We’ve shared our Homemade Vanilla Pudding recipe, a great idea for a Pudding Parfait in a Jar, and today our Homemade Chocolate Pudding Recipe!

Just like our Homemade Vanilla Pudding recipe, this one is tried and true and worth another share. We wanted to highlight it again as another school year is approaching (I know, I don’t want to talk about it either!). This is a great recipe for an after school snack or to pack in a lunch.

How should you pack it in a lunch, you ask? Well now, check out this fun idea for How to Make Your Own Pudding Cups!

And get our other homemade pudding recipes here so that you can mix and match!

Homemade Chocolate Pudding RecipeYum

Homemade Chocolate Pudding Recipe
 
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Author:
Serves: 4-6
Ingredients
  • 2½ cups milk
  • 3 egg yolks
  • ¼-1/2 cup real maple syrup
  • ¼ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 4 Tablespoons arrowroot powder or cornstarch
  • ¼ teaspoon sea salt
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
Instructions
  1. In a medium saucepan, whisk together milk, egg yolks, maple syrup, cocoa powder, arrowroot powder, and salt.
  2. Cook over medium heat, whisking/stirring CONSTANTLY until pudding begins to thicken.
  3. Stir over the heat for about 15 more seconds.
  4. Remove immediately from the heat, and continue to stir until pudding is creamy.
  5. Add vanilla and continue to stir until mixed.
  6. Pour into serving dishes and serve warm, or chill for two hours and serve cold.

Need some Homemade Whipped Cream to eat on top of your Homemade Chocolate Pudding? YES, you really do! It’s super easy to make and well worth the small amount of effort so that you can enjoy the additional treat of whipped cream on top of your homemade pudding! Get our Homemade Whipped Cream recipe here.

 

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Simple Layered Pudding in a Jar

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Did you see our Homemade Vanilla Pudding Recipe? Now you’re going to need this Simple Layered Pudding in a Jar idea to go with it!

This idea is so fantastic because you can mix and match and make a treat exactly to your liking.

Take it to go!

This idea is beautiful enough to make for special gatherings, parties, and showers. But it’s also practical enough that you can make several jars ahead and take them on the go with you. Pack them for lunches. Carry them for snacks. Make everyone around you jealous that while you are eating a gorgeous and delicious Layered Pudding in a Jar treat, they are stuck with…well, anything but a Layered Pudding in a Jar treat.

Hmm, perhaps you should carry around extras to share with those around you. :)

Simple Layered Pudding in a JarYum

Simple Layered Pudding in a Jar
 
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Author:
Serves: 6
Ingredients
  • 1 batch of homemade vanilla pudding*
  • 1 batch of homemade fruit syrup**
  • Whipped cream***
  • Slivered almonds or other nuts that you prefer (optional)
Instructions
  1. Make pudding, fruit syrup, and whipped cream as directed in each of the links below.
  2. Layer each in a jar according to your preference.
  3. Top with whipped cream and nuts if you like!
  4. Cover and store in the fridge to eat as needed.

Ready for the recipe links?

*Homemade Vanilla Pudding

**Homemade Fruit Syrups:

***Homemade Whipped Cream

Don’t want to mess with making homemade fruit syrup?

Simply toss in sliced fresh fruit.

The sky is the limit to how you can create your Layered Pudding Parfaits. It should come as no surprise that strawberry is my favorite syrup to make and add to my pudding. But since I don’t want/need the added sugar needed to create a fruit syrup, I usually just add the strawberries as-is!

Enjoy and have fun!

Want more Food-in-a-Jar Ideas?

You’ll love these!

Need to know where to get great jars?

This post shares all!

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